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'''Autocephaly''' (literally "self-headed") is the status of a church within the [[Orthodox Church]] whose [[primate|primatial]] bishop does not report to any higher-ranking bishop. When an [[ecumenical council]] or a high-ranking [[bishop]], such as a [[patriarch]] or other [[primate]], releases an ecclesiastical province from the authority of that bishop while the newly independent church remains in [[full communion]] with the hierarchy to which it then ceases to belong, the council or primate is granting '''autocephaly'''. For example, the [[Church of Cyprus]] was granted autocephaly by the [[Third Ecumenical Council|Council of Ephesus]] and is ruled by the Archbishop of New Justiniana and All Cyprus, who is not subject to any higher ecclesiastical authority, although his church remains in [[full communion]] with the other Orthodox sees. Similarly, the [[Ethiopian Orthodox Church]] was granted autocephaly by the [[Coptic Orthodox Church]] in 1950, and the [[Orthodox Church in America]] was granted autocephaly by the [[Church of Russia]] in 1970. The [[Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America]] is not autocephalous, but is part of the [[Church of Constantinople]].

[[Category:Jurisdictions]]